Security test for Iraqis as US troops pull out

Baghdad: Iraqi security forces jubilantly paraded in tanks and armoured vehicles Tuesday as they took control of towns and cities, but jubilation was marred by a car bomb that killed 33 people.

Iraq marked the June 30 pullback of US troops with a national holiday six years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussain.

American troops will quit their posts in urban centres by midnight, ahead of a complete pullout by the end of 2011.

Before a car bomb in the northern oil hub Kirkuk shattered the festivities and underscored the residual violence that plagues the country, Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki took on critics of Iraq's army and police, insisting they were up to the task of defending the country in the wake of the US pullback.

Al Maliki, who laid a wreath at Iraq's tomb of the unknown soldier in the heavily fortified Green Zone, wanted the pullback date to coincide with the outbreak in 1920 of a revolt against British occupation.

Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, yesterday congratulated the Iraqi leadership and people on the withdrawal of the US armed forces, wishing stability and security to Iraq amid current developmental and reconstruction efforts.

I am glad to know that the US forces pulling out of Iraq slowly. Its best for the Iraqi's to protect themselves. Any voilence going can always be taken care of by talks and coming to terms with rebel factions.I am glad that Iraqi's are slowly gaining control of Irag after such a long time.
Latif
Dubai,UAE
Posted: July 01, 2009, 14:46